Entrepreneurs Exposed

Dan Zavorotny is the cofounder, and COO of Nutrisense - a company on a mission to personalize nutrition by leveraging CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) and Machine Learning. In this one, we discuss the early days and origin story of Nutri sense; customer acquisition/ channel marketing, and influencer-driven growth; raising capital and how to make the "No's" feel less important; recruiting talent...

Alex Packham is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of ContentCal that was acquired by Adobe, in late 2021. During his ContentCal journey, he raised over £10m for the company, built the business to 3,000+ customers globally, and grew top line 150% year over year. In this episode, we discuss Alex's experience raising capital from angels vs. VC's; what he's learned about creating the right p...

Christian Owens is the CEO & founder of Paddle, a payments infrastructure for SaaS business. Prior to Paddle, Christian created his first software business from his bedroom at the age of 14. Having grown the business to $1m in revenue he decided to quit school at 16 to focus on building startups full time. In 2016, Christian was named one of Forbes’ “30 under 30” and a Thiel Fellow by the Thiel Fo...

Matt Fiedler is the co-founder and former CEO of record-of-the-month club Vinyl Me, Please (VMP). Since launching VMP in 2013, Matt successfully took the business from a passion project to a globally recognized brand in more than 40 countries around the world. During his tenure as CEO, VMP was named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list, and was twice listed to the Inc. 5000. While he r...

Jeremy Ryan Slate is the founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast, and the CEO of Command Your Brand Media. Jeremy's show was named a top podcast to listen to by INC Magazine in 2019 and has been downloaded more than 3 million times. In this EP, Jeremy and I discuss his success in podcasting; his personal challenges and using adversity as "ambition fuel"; macro trends related to both podcasting...

Allen Lau is the CEO and co-founder of Wattpad, the world's social storytelling platform. Wattpad has over 90 million readers; thousands of Wattpad stories have been adapted for major platforms and gone on to become blockbuster movies, Netflix hits, and bestselling books around the world. The company completed its sale to Naver in 2021 in a deal worth over $600 Million. Learn more about your ad ch...

Dave Selinger has founded and built some hugely successful companies - among them, Redfin, the well known real estate brokerage firm; and RichRelevance, which revolutionized shopping experiences for a number of retailers. On top of his colourful career as a founder, Dave was also an early at Amazon, working directly under Jeff Bezos. In this EP, we discuss Dave's past experiences at Redfin, Rich R...

Zeke Bronfman is the Co-founder and CEO of XED Beverages, a CPG brand builder and incubator with a growing portfolio of both owned brands and joint ventures. Zeke is a fourth-generation entrepreneur in the beverage alcohol industry, and comes to XED backed by a notable advisory board including Strauss Zelnick (former chairman of CBS), Edgar Bronfman Jr. (former CEO of Seagram), among others. In th...

Shahar Erez is the Co-founder & CEO of Stoke, an on-demand talent platform empowering companies to adopt and scale a hybrid workforce model. In 2021, Stoke was acquired by Fiverr for $110M just 15 months after coming out of stealth mode. In this EP, we dive into the early days of Stoke; trends related to freelance and remote work; the sale to Fiverr; the differences between startup culture in Isra...

Martin Basiri is the co-founder and CEO of Apply Board, a company he and his 2 brothers launched in 2015. Since then, Apply Board has raised nearly $500 Million dollars from some of the most influential VC's in North America. In this EP, Martin and I discuss the idea of "knowing very little" when starting a business; raising hundreds of millions of dollars, and the difference between raising a see...

Dan Park is an entrepreneur and the CEO of Clutch, an online platform for car buying and ownership. Before joining Clutch, Dan was responsible for building and scaling Uber Eats across Canada and was instrumental in driving the country’s exceptional growth. In this EP, we dive into the rapid success of Clutch and its business model; the market for cars, and the rise in demand amidst supply chain d...

Originally aired: May, 2021 Kirk Simpson is the co-founder and CEO of Wave, an accounting software company supporting over 400,000 active small businesses. Wave was acquired in June 2019 by H&R Block for over $537M – the 7th largest tech exit in Canada since 2001. In addition, Kirk was honoured as one of Canada's Most Admired CEOs in 2019. In this EP, we discuss the company's rise to prominence on...

Mark Lachance founded EVO Payments International Canada, a payment solutions provider and merchant acquirer. Prior to EVO, Mark was a founding member of both VersaPay (taken public in 2010), and Pivotal Payments, now a multi-billion-dollar public company. Currently, he is the CEO of Maxy Media, one of the largest TikTok display network performance marketing agencies in the world. In this EP, we di...

Tony Chapman is one of the youngest individuals inducted into the Marketing Hall of Legends, a testament to a storied career in the ad agency world. Tony has spoken around the globe on all topics related to marketing, advertising, and branding. In this EP, we chat about the worlds biggest brands, including many who are listed in the latest global brand rankings; influencer marketing and the rise o...

Jackie Fast is the Managing Partner of Sandbox Studios, an LA-based seed fund exclusively investing in talent-led startups. Busy as VC, she's probably best known for founding Slingshot, and London-based agency servicing some of the world’s most high-profile clients including The Rolling Stones, Shell, Formula 1, Red Bull, Richard Branson, Coca Cola, and more. In this EP, we discuss the origins of...

Original air date: April, 2021 Mark Ang is the co-founder and CEO of Second Closet, now BOLT, Canada’s largest valet-storage company. In this episode, we talk about the origin story of Second Closet; getting punched in the face, both metaphorically and literally; the importance of articulating core values; taking venture money; the shift to fulfillment from consumer storage; and more.  Want to sta...

Jason Smith is the Co-Founder and CEO of Klue, a competitive intelligence platform that just announced its $62 million Series B raise led by Tiger Global, with participation from Salesforce Ventures. In this EP, Jason and I dive into the recent funding announcement; raising money during the pandemic, and how it differs from the previous in-person fund raising circus; the American vs. Canadian entr...

Michael Serbinis is the founder and CEO of League, a technology-focused health company. A serial entrepreneur, Serbinis previously founded and built Kobo (the most notable competitor to Amazon's Kindle), along with DocSpace, and Critical Path. He was also among the first 10 employees at Zip2 alongside Kimble and Elon Musk. In this EP, we dive into Serbinis's early days at Zip2; his numerous start...

David Nour is the author of 11 books, including bestsellers Relationship Economics® (Wiley); Co-Create (St. Martin’s Press), and Curve Benders (Wiley). Nour also serves as a trusted advisor to global clients and corporate leaders. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fast Company, and Huffington Post Business. In this EP, we talk about David's origin story; "relatio...

Matt Larochelle, is the co-founder of MATT & STEVE’S. You may be familiar with the 'Extreme Bean'; the # 1 one selling pickled bean across North America. In this EP, we discuss the ups and downs of being in the food space during a global pandemic; the current supply chain disruption, and its impact on both companies and consumers; the paradigm shift away from "just in time" inventory; M&A activity...

Lloyed Lobo, (@lloyedlobo) is the Co-founder and President of Boast. AI, a fintech platform that automates access to billions in R&D tax credits and government funding to help companies fuel their growth. In this EP, we discuss Lloyed's scary brush with COVID19 back in January; the company's recent $23 M Series A round; the business trope of "company culture fit", and more. EP Sponsor: https://www...

Jeff Adamson is the co-founder of SkipTheDishes. "Skip" is now one of the most recognized consumer brands in Canada serving hundreds of thousands daily. Now, Jeff has moved on to his next venture, as a co-founder of banking disruptor, Neo Financial. In this EP, we chat about Jeff's background as a professional wrestler; the origins and evolution of SKIP, and the sale to Just Eat; Neo Financial, Je...

Steve Irvine, is the Founder and CEO of Integrate AI. Prior to founding Integrate, Steve was an executive at Facebook and Instagram. In this EP, we discuss the intersection of software and AI; the importance of trust, compliance, and data privacy; the notion of building a business with soul; raising capital and retaining talent; why being a not-so-techy founder of a tech company can be a big advan...

Jay Myers is the co-founder and CEO of Bold Commerce, one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Canada. Powering over 100,000 brands, Bold has become a leading e-commerce technology provider to many of the largest brands in the world including Harry Rosen, Staples, Pepsi, and more.  Sponsor: learnplaylovetennis.com - promo code E2TENNIS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

Allen Lau is the CEO and co-founder of Wattpad, the world's social storytelling platform. Wattpad has over 90 million readers; thousands of Wattpad stories have been adapted for major platforms and gone on to become blockbuster movies, Netflix hits, and bestselling books around the world. The company completed its sale to Naver earlier this year in a deal worth over $600 Million.  Sponsor: learnpl...